The Financial Ombudsman Service Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2025 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Essay any type Did you like this example? The Financial Ombudsman Service The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is stated to be The official independent expert in settling complaints between consumers and businesses providing financial services. It is a public body that was established by Parliament and is authorised to deal with a very broad range of complaints in areas ranging from banking and insurance, to loans, credit and hire purchase and savings and investments. The standard it applies when determining complaints, is what in the opinion of the ombudsman is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case ; with the ability to award fair compensation for loss or damage. Indeed, the FOS has come to enjoy a considerable reputation due to its efficiency, independence, and impartiality when dealing with complaints, dealing with almost a million enquiries, settling over 150,000 disputes a year, and settling a third of cases within three months. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Financial Ombudsman Service Essay" essay for you Create order In fact, in the latest six-monthly (between 1st January and 30th June 2010) complaints data released on individual financial businesses, the FOS received 84,212 new complaints and upheld an average of 44% of complaints in favour of consumers. The FOS has therefore demonstrated a strong complaints-handling performance with cases usually settled informally. Moreover, consumers are still free to reject a FOS decision and take their case to court instead if they so wish. Given such credentials, it might seem to be the case that consumers having complaints relating to insurance are well protected under the FOS regime. However, it is submitted that the draft Consumer Insurance (Disclosure Representations) Bill (the Bill) recommended by the Law Commission (LC) is of significant practical benefit to consumers, and brings a great deal to the table in relation to insurance contracts. In fact, if enacted the Bill would represent a watershed in the law governing disclosure and represen tation in consumer insurance contracts. Inherent difficulties stem from the fact that this area of law is governed by archaic legislation in the form of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (MIA 1906). The main difficulty is that the MIA 1906 stipulates that A contract of marine insurance is a contract based upon the utmost good faith, and, if the utmost good faith be not observed by either party, the contract may be avoided by the other party. In fact, this principle of utmost good faith or uberrimae fidei is of antiquated origin and imposes very strict disclosure requirements on the part of the assured to an insurance contract. Thus, the assured must disclose every material circumstance which is known to the assured , with the assured being deemed to know every circumstance which, in the ordinary course of business, ought to be known by him. Furthermore, material circumstance is expounded as including Every circumstance is material which would influence the judgement of a pruden t insurer in fixing the premium, or determining whether he will take the risk. The relevant test was elucidated upon further in Pan Atlantic Insurance Co Ltd Another v Pine Top Insurance Co Ltd where the House of Lords held that the test of materiality of disclosure required any relevant circumstance to have had an effect on the mind of a prudent insurer in weighing up the risk, i.e. objective in nature. However, a certain degree of subjectivity was also attached to the test in that it was also held that an insurer would only be entitled to avoid an insurance policy if the material non-disclosure or misrepresentation had actually induced the making of the policy. Finally, every material representation made by the assured or his agent to the insurer prior to the making of a contract must be true or the insurer may also avoid the contract, even for honest mistakes leading to untrue material representations. Consequently, if the assured fails to disclose all such material inf ormation the insurer may avoid the contract and refuse to pay out for any claim under the insurance contract. Thus, whilst this strict duty of disclosure may have been pertinent for commercial merchants at the turn of the twentieth century, it is difficult to justify the policy behind its continuation into a twenty-first century replete with a plethora of insurance contracts taken up by ordinary lay consumers. Its often harsh and unfair effects are exemplified by the case of Lambert v Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd. In Lambert, the Court of Appeal held that an insurer was entitled to avoid an insureds policy on the basis that the insured had failed to inform the insurers that her husband held previous convictions, even though she had not been asked this. Nevertheless, the convictions were held to constitute material circumstances which should have been notified to the insurers under the prudent insurer standard. Even whilst acknowledging the point in law proved by the defe ndants, the judge professed that they would be acting decently if they were to pay her nonetheless, even adding that It might be thought a heartless thing if they did not, but that is their business, not mine. Even in 1975 one can see the excessive nature of the uberrimae fidei standard acting to the detriment of the innocent party. It is one thing for Parliament to set out insurance requirements precluding any misrepresentation at a time when the insurance market was in its infancy (following the Lloyds Act, 1871); it is quite another to continue to impose such draconian standards on millions of ordinary consumers a century later. Indeed, as recognised by the LC: We think the time has now come to update the law to meet the needs of a different century ; with it identifying five main problems with the existing law. Firstly, it found that consumers were only able to obtain justice from the FOS and not from the courts, as the courts were forced to apply the unfair rules. Mor eover, the LC stated that the compulsory jurisdiction of the FOS was limited to awards of ÂÂ £100,000. This effectively sets a dual standard depending on whether the consumer is rich or not, with those individuals insured for figures in excess of ÂÂ £100,000 (e.g. buildings or life insurance) forced to take their chances in courts with much stricter standards. The LC noted the FOS would decline to hear cases which required cross-examination of witnesses, so cases venturing into complex areas or involving third parties again ostracised consumers. Secondly, the LC considered the current rules were unacceptably confused, with many consumers not realising a right to complain to the FOS, and with the resulting muddle leading to a loss of confidence in the insurance industry. Thirdly, the LC believed the legal system penalised some vulnerable groups and cited problems experienced by older individuals, those with criminal convictions , or even those with Multiple Sclerosi s (owing to early but undiagnosed symptoms leading to a rejection of critical illness insurance claims). Fourthly, the LC believed the system imposed an inappropriate role on regulators, as the FOS and Financial Services Authority were forced to effectively act as policy and rule-makers. Additionally, the courts were systematically forced to reach unfair decisions. Finally, in the face of across-the-board European Union harmonisation, it stated that it was difficult to justify the present incoherent layers of law to an international audience. The LCs recommendation for reform of the onerous legal position in which the strict letter of the law had been overlain by successive layers of self-regulation, FSA rules and FOS guidelines , took the form of the recommended enactment of the Bill. Under the Bill, a consumer insurance contract (CIC) is defined as one entered into by an individual wholly or mainly for purposes unrelated to the individuals trade, business or profession. T he Bill replaces the duty of utmost good faith by instead stipulating that: It is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer in any disclosures or representations made by the consumer to an insurer prior to entering into, or varying, a CIC. Reasonable care is said to be determinable in the light of all the relevant circumstances. This includes things such as the type of consumer insurance policy in question, and its target market ; the insureds produced or authorised explanatory materials or publicity ; the clarity and specificity of the insurers questions ; and whether or not an agent was acting for the consumer. Also the Bill, prevents contracting out of these obligations by putting the consumer in a worse position , or the use of basis of the contract clauses, namely clauses which convert consumer representations into warranties, breach of which automatically terminates insurance cover. The Bill also provides for bala nced insurers remedies for different types of misrepresentations. For example, an honest and reasonable misrepresentation by the assured does not affect the validity of the insurance contract whereas a deliberate or reckless qualifying misrepresentation allows the insurer to avoid the contract, refuse any claim and keep any premiums paid (unless good reasons exist why they should not be kept). However, the insurers remedies for any careless representations are based on what the insurer would have done if the consumer had complied with the reasonable care duty. This ranges from avoiding the contract to proportionate reduction of a claim (because the insurer would have charged a higher premium). Although widely accepted, the proposed reforms are not without criticism. For example Soyer has argued that the reasonable assured test for materiality is nebulous and has not been previously tested; that the availability of proportionate remedies may lead to uncertainty as well as being open to criticism from theoretical and economic perspectives; and that statutory control is not practical and undesirable. Nevertheless, it is submitted that such criticisms are weak in the face of the currently manifestly unfair application of dated insurance law principles which are adversely affecting consumers. The law is clearly in need of reform and the proposals set out in the Bill clearly represent a fairer, more balanced and transparent process relating to consumer insurance contracts. Butcher has even suggested that to talk of insurance contracts as being contracts of good faith tends to be either useless or positively harmful to a coherent development of the law. He considers good faith to be a redundant concept, with rules now in place which have gone a good deal further than necessary to maintain good faith relations, and which have provided insurers with a weapon which produces the opposite results of what good faith would demand. Whilst it is true that the s ervice provided by the FOS is currently invaluable to thousands of insurance consumers across the UK, it cannot be a viable substitute for properly focused and balanced reforms. The Bill achieves this and it is submitted there is no reason to delay its enactment. Bibliography Achampong, F. (1987) Uberrimae fides in English and American insurance law: a comparative analysis. I.C.L.Q., 36(2), 329-347. Bennett, H.N. (1993) The duty to disclose in insurance law. L.Q.R., 109(Oct), 513-518. Butcher, C. (2008) Good faith in insurance law: a redundant concept? J.B.L., 5, 375-384. Hird, N. (1998) How to make a drama out of a crisis. J.B.L., May, 279-287. Soyer, B. (2008) Reforming the assureds pre-contractual duty of utmost good faith in insurance contracts for consumers: are the Law Commissions on the right track? J.B.L., 5, 385-414. Soyer, B. (2009) Reforming pre-contractual information duties in business insurance contracts one reform too many? J.B.L., 1, 15-43. Steyn, J. (1992) The role of good faith and fair dealing in contract law: a hair-shirt philosophy? Arbitration, 58(1), 51-56. Tarr, Julie-Anne and Tarr, A.A. (2001) The insureds non-disclosure in the formation of insurance contracts: a comparative perspective. I.C.L.Q., 50(3), 577-612. The Financial Ombudsman Service (2010a) [Online] Available from: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/. [Accessed 1st December 2010]. The Financial Ombudsman Service (2010b) About us. [Online] Available from: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/about/index.html. [Accessed 2nd December 2010]. The Financial Ombudsman Service (2010c) ombudsman releases latest complaints data on individual financial businesses. (14th September) [Online] Available from: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/news/updates/complaints-data-Sept-10.html. [Accessed 2nd December 2010]. The Law Commission (2009) Consumer Insurance Law: Pre-Contract Disclosure and Misrepresentation. Law Com No 319, Cm 7758, SG/2009/255 (December).

A New Superintendent Of An Urban School District Essay

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Albert Speer 5 Essay Example For Students

Albert Speer 5 Essay Albert Speer Outline Albert Speer’s Role within the Nazi regime Albert Speer’s Role in the Nazi Regime primarily was centred on a couple of areas, his work as the General Building Inspector (GBI), the chief architect of the Reich and his role as Armaments Minister. Speer’s ascendancy within the Nazi hierarchy has been described by Henry King as ‘vertical and ladder like, Speer was an intelligent, affluent and well educated man and there is no doubt that he made a remarkable progression through the ranks of the Nazi Party. In less than ten years Albert Speer no longer was the humble architect but became the master of the German economy and production in Germany. In December 1930 Speer attended a Nazi rally after he had heard some of his students discussing the policies of the Nazi party, and was intrigued to learn more about Hitler. In attending the Nazi rally, Speer became fixated upon the extraordinary oratory skills of Hitler whom on the occasion dressed professionally in a suit. Speer applied for membership and was accepted on the 1st of March 1931. This was two years before Hitlers rise to the position of Chancellor and it reveals that Speer saw that Hitler was the right individual to take Germany back to its glory days and was not one of the countless Germans who joined after 1933. This is evident as Speer was given a party number which was 474481. Speer in his memoir ‘inside the third Reich’, gives reason to why he joined the Nazi Party which was the fear of communism, admiration for Hitler and the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and what it had imposed upon the German people. He joined several Nazi organisations including the NSKK (motoring corps), becoming head of his local sub-branch. In 1933 Karl Hanke a Nazi official was the first to make contact with Speer, whom asked Speer to redecorate a villa he recently started renting. Hanke was pleased with the resulting work recommended Speer to Goebbels to Ministry of Propaganda building in Berlin. Speer designed the 1933 May Day rally in Berlin after criticising the original design he saw on Karl Hanke’s desk, whom was now state secretary to the Minister for Propaganda. Speer stated that it would be a rifle meet, and Hanke responded in challenging Speer to submit a new design. The new design as Speer later learned that his design pleased Hitler, whom adored the large party banners incorporated into the rally. Organisers of the Nuremburg party rally asked Speer to submit a design, Rudolf Hess and the other organisers were apprehensive in approving the design and asked Speer to go to Munich to get approval from Hitler. Hitler without taking a look at Speer instantly approved the design and this awarded Albert Speer his first Nazi post as Commissioner for the Artistic and Technical Presentation of Party Rallies and Demonstrations. Albert Speer has maintained the perception that he was not anti-Semitic even though this was part of the core Nazi ideology. In his role as the General Building Inspector he was directly responsible for the evictions of Jews, whom he relocated to the east, the pretence given was for the flats to be available for non-Jews whose homes have been damaged by British air raids. Tens of thousands of flats were cleared by his order. It has been constantly argued by historians of whether Speer attended the meeting at Posen in where Himmler presented the Final Soulution and the need to eradicate all Jews from society. Speer’s biographer, Dan van der Vat, acknowledges that Speer must have known of it and was probably there due to his high status amongst the Nazi Hierarchy. Speer became a workaholic who neglected his family due to the increasing strain his new duties involved such as the 1936 Berlin Olympics in redesigning the new stadium to fit the demands of Hitler and Germany’s pavilion in the Paris World Fair in 1937. By 1937, Speer became the leading architect for the third Reich, with the support of Hitler. In 1937 he was appointed General Building Inspector, in this role Speer would oversee the redesigning of Berlin which would become the Reich capital known as Germania. To accomplish his needs Speer was given the highest German civil grade. Speers talent for organisation served him well as a public servant. When war the war broke out in 1939, Speer had amassed a plethora of building materials and trucks and a building staff of thousands of workers prepared to rebuild damage from British air raids. Furthermore Speer granted the use of the resources from his ministry towards the war effort. In February 1942, Fritz Todt the minister for weaponry and munitions and civil engineer died in a plane crash. At 1:00pm on that same day Albert Speer was summoned to Hitler’s office that appointed Speer as Todt’s successor and assumed all of Todts offices. In this role Speer became responsible for German Construction and energy industries. Speer reorganised the munitions industry to make it more efficient, which resulted in production increasing exponentially to its peak in 1944 despite ongoing Allied air bombing. His ministry gained the power to punish arms manufacturers or construction contractors who made false claims for labour, equipment or resources. His first move under this provision was to send two managers to a concentration camp (without trial) for using conscription-exempt workers as domestic servants. Within taking over from Todt, Speer in six months had increased the German output of ammunition, cannons and tanks. Speer stressed three areas innovation, flexibility and improvisation. Hitler was very pleased with Speer’s work, he granted Speer unusual levels of freedom, which allowed Speer to have free reign within the government. In May 1942 he was appointed one of two co-dictators of transport. The railways became more efficient. A large number of labour forces were sent to the east, to build roads in order increase the efficiency of mobility in the East. Many of the labourers used in Speers various activities were slave-workers from concentration camps, workers conscripted from occupied countries or prisoners of war. For the purely practical reason that healthy workers work harder, Speer tried to ensure that his workers at least received an adequate diet. In January 1944 health problems put Speer into a clinic and long convalescence (until April 1944). During this period of isolation and reflection he apparently became disenchanted with Hitler. By this time the war situation had become so bad for Germany that even Speers administrative talents and efficiency drives were unable to stem the tide of disasters. In mid-1944, when Hitler ordered his Minister of Armaments to stop producing fighter aircraft in order to increase anti-aircraft gun production, Speer ignored the Fuhrers orders for the first time. In November 1944 Speer admitted privately to Goebbels that it was unrealistic to believe in a German victory. In January 1945 he publicly admitted that even the secret weapons, the V1 and V2 rocket bombs, would not save Germany. In February 1945 Speer apparently decided to remove Hitler by gassing him in his bunker. He justified his decision by a passage from Mein Kampf in which Hitler had argued that a leader who betrayed the interests of his own people should be removed. Speer claimed that he gave up on this project because he found the bunker roof heavily guarded by the SS and an inaccessible new three-metre high chimney for the bunkers air vent. Don Quixote Chivalry EssayWho would believe me that I suppressed this, that it would have been easier to have written all of this in my memoirs’. Subsequently in assessing Speer as the real criminal of the Nazi regime, it is crucial to examine the methods of which Speer used to bolster production of arms. Speer to achieve this utilised prisoners of war and men from the concentration camps as a source of labour, but was forced to do this since Speer wanted to use women. Hitler fixed on Nazi ideology believed the place of women were in the home as mothers which led Speer to take the easier path by using slave labour. Himmler had attempted to convert concentration camps into armaments factories to come under the jurisdiction of the SS, who were harsh in their treatment of prisoners would prove detrimental to the production of arms due to working conditions. Speer went to Hitler and insisted in gaining control of those camps from Himmler, to his own ministry on the premise that conditions of workers hold be improved. Speer enacted several measures that would see to the prisoners that adequate sanitation, nutrition and access to medical services was made available to prisoners in ‘Dora’, and the underground rocket production factory in the Harz Mountains. But in essence this was not a demonstration by Speer to show he is compassion towards the well being of prisoners. The real motive behind this was to ensure that the workers were productive and in ensuing that productivity was high. In considering the idea of the real criminal of the Nazi regime, it is hard to look past the character of Albert Speer and how he conducted himself in the Nuremburg Trial. Speer survived the Nuremberg Trials, by appearing less culpable in the organisation and implementation of crimes against humanity than his fellow defendants. He accepted collective responsibility for the atrocities committed by Hitler’s regime, but denied knowledge of the final solution until May 1945, after the German surrender. This differentiated Speer from the other Nazi elite, whom knew of the persecution against the Jews. Speer argued that when he joined the Nazi party in 1931, he did not research the aims of the party, of which anti Semitism had a crucial role in the policy making of the third Reich. He expressed guilt for his naivete and, in this extract from Inside the Third Reich and judges himself perhaps more harshly than Nuremberg: Not to have tried to see through the whole mystification was already criminal For being in a position to know and nevertheless shunning knowledge creates direct responsibility for the consequences by entering Hitler’s party I had already, in essence, assumed a responsibility that led directly to the brutalities of forced labour, to the destruction of war and to the deaths of those millions of so-called undesirable stock to the crushing of justice and the elevation of evil I will never be free of that sin (Albert Speer) At the Nuremburg Trials, the majority of the Nazi’s pleaded that they were following the orders of Adolf Hitler. Speer spoke at the Nuremberg trials of an attempt to assassinate Hitler, and his defiance of Hitler’s orders regarding the scorched earth policy. These statements had a profound effect on the prosecution and it gave a very favourable effect on Speer’s sentence, with the court recognising that they both involved considerable personal risk. If Speer had gone through with such a plot it would surely meant death, as Hitler saw Speer as his most trustworthy and loyal ally within the Nazi Party, and this was recognised by the tribunal. Speer because of this differentiated himself, though he was guilty of his actions of using slave labour he was not sentenced to death like the majority of those tried at Nuremburg but sentenced to jail in Spandau Prison for twenty years. Despite his claims to be ignorant of the final solution, and thus innocent of crimes against humanity, historians question how a member of the inner circle, with a close relationship with Hitler. How could Speer with his position in the inner circle have been oblivious to the persecution of any non-Aryan race or culture? This was not questioned during the Nuremburg Trials but is an area of controversy that surrounds Speer and his title of being the self proclaimed good Nazi. Evidence to support that other, inner circle members knew about the Final Solution and the persecutions committed by the Nazis. Hermann Goering during the Nuremburg Trials that despite not being involved with the concentrations camps like Speer was with the slave labour programs in the concentration camps throughout the war. Goering knew of the persecution, so how Speer could have been possibly been oblivious to this during his involvement in the concentration camps is quite profound in itself. During his time in jail Speer wrote his memoirs, Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: The Secret Diaries. It was widely considered as reliable sources by historians in examining Nazi Germany within the perspective of a member of Hitler’s inner circle; however it has become an inaccurate source and an area of inconsistencies by Speer himself. At the beginning of Speer’s memoir Inside the Third Reich found inconsistencies between his 1943 self titled biography in which Speer describes himself as’ one of those who fervently committed themselves to National Socialism’ and his 1969 memoirs where Speer claimed that he was allergic to any political commitments. It is possible to argue that Speer post Nuremburg has tried to cover his actions within the regime and remodel himself under the tile the good Nazi, and establish himself as an individual ignorant of the policies and politics of the Nazi regime. Albert Speer in light of the criticism that has befallen him has revealed in his memoir that he is trying to rid himself of responsibility of crimes against humanity, by arguing that ‘he was allergic to political commitments’. This perspective on Speer is established by the historian Matthias Schmidt whom examined the role of which Speer played during the war and in the holocaust. In light of evidence against Speer, it becomes apparent of how he does not fit the title of the Good Nazi, as his actions alone prolonged the war which coincides with more Jews being transported to death camps and murdered. Therefore Speer is the real criminal of the Nazi Regime and it is rightly justified by Speer’s own admission in the remark ‘By entering Hitler’s party, I had already assumed the responsibilities that led directly to the brutalities of forced labour to the destruction of war and to the deaths of the so called undesirable stock to the crushing justice and elevation of evil’. The prosecutors at the Nuremburg Trial and society itself were fooled by the cleaver, intellectual Nazi Albert Speer who is the real criminal of the Nazi regime.

Running Speed in Dinosaurs

Introduction Dinosaurs refer to a wide set of animals that dominated vertebrates living on land for more than one hundred and sixty years since the end of Triassic era to the late Cretaceous era. The species of dinosaur began disappearing in the third incident of crustacean extinction event. According to reports from the fossils, avian developed from a group of dinosaurs called theropod in the Jurassic era (Paul 14). A few of the birds evaded this period including their descendants. Never the less, birds in some instances have been classified as dinosaurs.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Running Speed in Dinosaurs specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These are a set of animals consisting of more than nine thousand avian and perciform fish. Several kinds of avian dinosaurs have been identified, ranging from those that fly to those that do not fly. Fossil remains belonging to dinosaurs have been excavated in all p arts of the world. A few of the dinosaurs were carnivorous whilst others were herbivorous. Furthermore, some dinosaurs have been having two pedals, others with four pedals. Dinosaurs having two pedals assume the highest ultimate speed in running as opposed to those with four limbs. Never the less, some dinosaurs walking on fours sprint at a fast rate as opposed to their bipedal counterpartss. A case in point is the avian descendants which possess fast moving muscles of the upper arm which have evolved by time to form wings and can propel the dinosaur at very electrifying speeds especially under tension or when running after a prey. Most of the present day animals have their ancestral roots among the dinosaurs’ .The world’s main vertebrates that fly are the birds. In addition to this, most of the dinosaurs have been reduced in sizes and are said to make nests including laying eggs in the nests as well as flying at very high speeds. The first fossils were discovered in t he nineteenth century. Since the discovery, the remains have been preserved in various historic sites such as the museums. Every excavated remain has followed the same suite making museums rich of dinosaur remains. Dinosaurs have appeared in best-selling editorials as well as films expending their fast moving characteristics. New discoveries of the same have been aired by media on regular basis. More so, the eroding dinosaur image as ancient monster has attracted the use of ‘dinosaur’ into gaining entry into vernacular by describing anything that is obsolete, huge, tending towards extinction and slows in motion. Modern definition According to Phylogenic classification, dinosaurs refer to modern birds (Neortnithes), their recent ancestors’. Avian species have been characterized by presence of ostriches; these definitions encompass theropods, sauropodomorphs, ankylosaurians, stegosaurians, ceratopsians, and ornithopods (Paul 67). General description Dinosaurs can b e defined as land based archosaurian reptiles constituting of limbs erected below the body that existed during the end ofs Triassic and the end of Cretaceous periods. Most of antediluvian animals are purported to be dinosaurs (Paul 76). Dinosaurs constituted a large portion of animals living on land and which resembled mammals very closely.Advertising Looking for term paper on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Other sets of animals were very small and limited to the size of a rodent or cat. However, Repenomamus giganticus fed on infant dinosaurs. Since 2008, various dinosaur species have been identified. One of the Dinosaurs was found to be living in aerial or marine environments despite the fact that some theropods with feathers could fly. This simply means that some of the spinosaurids constituted of temporal aquatic characteristics. Physiology Most people studying the origin and evolution processes among dinosaurs ha ve given different opinions regarding thermal regulation which closely intertwines with speed in a given animal. Initially a hot discussion ensured with respect to the beasts ability to regulate the body temperatures. Currently studies have supported the fact that these eroding species existed in regions of low temperatures hence most of them had thermal regulatory mechanisms to counter the cooler climatic conditions. Hence, the argument concurs with those who asserted that the dinosaur’s ultimate speed during sprinting was very low; hence they were slow moving creatures. An example of this fossil is that of the polar bears found in Antarctica region. Discovery of avian fossils have also supported the thermal regulation concept among Neortnithes. The study of blood circulation among a set of avian dinosaurs is a true representation of all endothermic creatures. Theropods displayed an active lifestyle blood circulatory system that is characteristic of endothermic animals. Warm -bloodedness among many animals can result from various mechanisms. For example, Mammals and avian whose body sizes are average have been compared with endothermic dinosaurs. These birds make use of their energies to increase their body temperatures above that of the surrounding. Small sized avian have insulators in terms of presence of feathers and fat which aids in thermal regulation. Huge mammals like elephants, however, have a minute surface area compared to its volume which is in agreement with Halden’s principle. This feature enhances thermal regulation which resulting from the cooling of the body temperatures during hot seasons via flapping of the ears. This characteristic is important especially during running after a hunt. Dinosaurs speed The legs of human beings are up right with knees that are straight due to their vertical bodies that put the C.O .G (centre of gravity) in alignment with the socket of the hip. Since both the body and the head of the bipedal dinosau rs were kept level as well as ahead of the hips despite the long tail which countered the balance, the femur sloped in front in order to maintain the feet below COG.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Running Speed in Dinosaurs specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This organization is however extremely represented in birds with short tails whose femoral bones are close to the horizontal line on walking so as to maintain the feet and knees a distant enough in front, hence during running, birds femur tends to strongly swing towards the back as opposed to the front (Martin 57). Two sets of dinosaurs namely the sauropods and the stegosaurs developed elephantine biased towards straighter-jointed columnar limbs. The knee structure was reorganized in that it maintained wholly articulated upright. More so, the mobility of the ankle was reduced whilst the hind limbs were kept short. This adaptation restrained the body from being pushed in to actual running irrespective of the size. For instance, young elephants always run at a slower pace as opposed to their parents in that at least one foot is always stack to the ground during high speed running. Dinosaurs with straight limbs should have been much slower in running than elephants whose speed is equal to or less than 15 meters per minute or 25kilometres per hour (Paul 245). Neither, is it an issue to ascertain that medium and small dinosaurs bearing lengthy, slender flexed hind limbs would run at similar speed to galloping mammals and terrestrial birds whose speed is between forty to sixty kilometers per hour. Challenges have been experienced in attempts to find out the highest speed in which heavy weight dinosaurs can attain. Some electronic technologies have claimed that tyrannosauras dinosaurs could attain a highest speed of approximately forty kilometers per hour equal to elephants of the same size which is the human beings sprinting speed. Since large tyrannosaurus had better running adaptations as opposed to elephants, there lacks a likelihood of this kind of creatures having been slow, furthermore, some individuals indicates that enormous theropods capability to run was twice that of similar sized elephants and that this speed was equivalent to that of the non-thorough bred horses and rhinos. Till date, the electronic analysis of dinosaurs locomotion processes in addition to storage of energy in the already stretched tendons of the limbs and springing resonance effect of the tail and torso. Neither, has it occurred that the capability of the programs used in finding out the speed could successfully ascertain extreme animals’ performance as well as estimate the modalities on which extreme dinosaurs which include the supersaurapods were able to maintain an upright posture with minimal movements irrespective of their huge bodies.Advertising Looking for term paper on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is very important to note, however, this query has lacked answers for many decades (Lockley 12). It is even more depressing to think about all this mystery since track-ways indicate that the vast surapods were terrestrial never the less, their appearance looks irregular and their weight cannot give support to elephants whose speed is low and which bears a small body size. The supersaurapods needed super muscles and power to run across Mesozoic lands. They also needed pretty adaptations like well built fiber muscles as well as tendons that have already been tensed to undergo evolution so as to enhance movement. If their muscles were pre-tensed then it is obvious that the huge dinosaurs might have very high running speed as opposed to computer analysis results. General Anatomy and Speed The heads of the dinosaurs ranged from delicate structures to well formed structures. The sinuses or nasal passages were well constructed something that was very popular with the archosaurs. Most dinosaurs maintained prominent orbital openings, where as in others the opening was nearly closed off. As opposed to other mammals that consist of prominent face muscles, and just like avian and reptiles, dinosaurs did not have muscles of the head thus the skin was in direct contact with the skull. This adaptation makes it easier for head restoration in dinosaurs as opposed to other mammals. The outside nares are located in distant place from their nose despite the extent of the nasal cavity which extends in the exterior. Among some set of sauropods, the nasal cavity have been found extended in the anterior part of the skull, over the sockets of the eyes. Previously, it was said that this adaptation enhanced snorkeling of the dinosaurs during submerging. Recently it has been purported that retracted nasal cavities evolved so that it can protect them from irritation as they fed on cactus. Most of the vegetation constituted of soft vegetation and this adaptation really helped the dino saurs. The flabby nasal cavity extended interiorly such that nares on the exterior were positioned in normally close to the snouts tip. Nothing can proof that dinosaurs had proboscis. The skin that covers huge cavities in the orbits anterior of most of the dinosaurs smoothly extended to the exterior. The muscles of the jaw also protruded outside the cavities of the skull of the orbital sockets. Snakes constituted fangs that were trimmed sharply. Amphibians on the other hand had teeth that could be seen upon closure of the lips. The amphibians also did not have muscles that covered the mouth cavity. This adaptation seems to be satisfactory to many of the sauropods and theropods (Lockley 78). One distinct species is the spinosaurs whose arrangement resembles that of a crocodile with the front teeth spaced widely in different sockets. Hence this set of dinosaurs might have lacked lips and their ugly lips left uncovered on closure of the jaws. Ornithischians came up with embryonic teeth . In therizinosaurs and Ornithischians the beak was based on the anterior of the mouth where as in theropods including most of the avian the teeth were replaced by the beak. Most of the birds with beaks do not have lips and cheeks .Never the less; condors have diminished mouths due to the fact that their side jaws are protected by elastic tissues of the cheek which vary from muscles of the cheek covering side teeth. For sauropods and Ornithischians the side teeth were always inset, the surrounding cavities constituted smooth surfaces including the foramen which extending the soft tissues. This implies that the well structured elastic cheeks enveloped the side teeth. This adaptation is clearly spelt out in Ornithischians and the tissues of the cheeks some which underwent ossification especially among the ankysaurs where cheeks protruded towards the beak. The dinosaurs trunk vertebrae moved in various directions such as the dorsal convex or the straight line that varied from feeble to strong (Strickberger 57). The nature in which dinosaurs articulated more so during ossification of the tendons of the spinal meant that their backs were more stiff as opposed to those of lizards as well as other mammals though dinosaurs trunk vertebrae were not jointed. Dinosaur ribs seemed to be more perpendicular yet this varied from one dinosaur to another. The hips and the stomachs of the carnivorous theropods were tiny indicating the diminished digestive system and also their running abilities. Large carnivorous dinosaurs could fast during hunger and porch for prey afterwards hence their stomachs remained hollow during the time of hunting. On the other hand, herbivorous dinosaurs had enlarged hips and bellies which extended to the very extreme in that it adversely affected the fattest dinosaurs. The ankylosaurs shoulder blades were more warped along the extended axis so that it fits on the abrupt change from shoulders which were narrow to the bulged abdomen. The muscles of the trunk were made light and this adaptation enhanced their movement. The gastrointestinal system was made flexible to aid in swallowing of food. The tail and the hip inclined con the same line as they appeared in vertebral of the trunk. Amongst the sauropods and therizinosaurs, the tail and hip were upwardly flexed with respect to the vertebrae of the trunk. This enabled the trunk to be clutched strongly anchored upwards whilst the tail and hips maintained a horizontal plane thus an upright posture of the head was increased where as the dinosaurs ability to run on the hind limbs was maintained. Since most of this animal’s weight concentrated on their hind limbs apart from the tail which acted to counter the weight of the body, most the dinosaurs reared upwards including those whose forelimbs were longer than hind limbs. Assessing the speed of Dinosaur A critical aspect to note in finding out the power and speed of dinosaurs is limb muscles mass, which constitutes a bigger perc entage of the sum of mass in the high speed mammals as opposed to slow speed mammals (Paul 45). Lack of muscles on dinosaur fossils has made it difficult to accurately ascertain the exact speed of dinosaur, the best that can be done is just but finding an approximate figure which has had discrepancies from one researcher to another. The complicated muscles of the limbs of the existing mammals find their roots in the history of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs preserved the plain structure reptile muscles which are prominent till date. For instance, the main muscle which are still visible in most dinosaurs and reptiles but lacking in mammals and avian are caudofemoralis tail based muscles that aided in pulling the legs backwards at the time of propulsive stroke. Despite the fact the exact muscle dinosaur sizes cannot be identified, their comparative sizes amid various sets can be estimated. A case in point is the hips of the reptiles which consists of an undersized ilium in that the muscles of t highs are forced to be narrow restricting their size. The extended iliac of the mammals and avian hold a powerful and broad group of muscles of the thigh (Paul 56). The ancient prosauropods and herreraurs ilium was undersized hence must have consisted of very tiny muscles of the thigh. Some of the dinosaurs had deep and extended ilium holding a very large group of muscles of the thigh promoting sustaining power. To some of the dinosaurs the trend was very extreme. On the other hand, tyrannosaurids and ornithomimids which belong to the family of ostriches consisted of large pelvis demonstrating the presence of distinctively enormous muscles of the legs with the ability to produce enough power during high speed propelling. Longer hips were observed in ceratopsid dinosaurs which enhanced large hind limb muscles which promoted the fast fending off of the muscles. Surprising the large ilium lacked in saurapod dinosaur. This is due to the fact that this kind of dinosaurs did not have to m ove fast. This is the same issue with the elephants which lacked huge muscles beneath the knees due the fact that the limbs in which the shank muscles support immobile and short. This was true of stegosauras and sauropods. Fast moving animals constitute a huge stack of shank muscles that manipulate the extended long, movable limbs through the tendons. For bipedal dinosaur such as avian, huge collection of limbs that resemble the drumstick muscles beneath the knee anchoring on enemial like projections in front of the joints of the knees. Bringing back dinosaurs entirely makes their surface contours to be so simple in that their tails, limbs, and legs into to tubes that are simplified tubes and smoothing above the body topography. Among the saurapods, the neck vertebra protuberance, were prominent on the necks as they appear in giraffes. Since the oesophagus and the trachea of sauropods well held up amidst the necks and their cervical ribs, the lower part of their necks should have be en flattened. As opposed to two legged dinosaurs, four legged dinosaurs are huge with enormous body weights. The dinosaur’s skeletons were adapted to bearing heavy loads as opposed to running. The 3-toed two legged dinosaurs used to walk on twos. This is what the cursorial dinosaurs adaptation to running. This feature is important and it has been well brought gout gin the modern avian which are ancestors of coelurosaurian. Digitigrades features enhance the length of the limbs since the metatarsal bones contribute to the length of the leg increasing the animals COG. An example is the limbs of human being which are used for jumping or running, during running, the runners sprint on their toes. Estimating the Maximum Running Speed of Dinosaurs William Sellers and Phillip Manning attempted to find out the maximum running speed of dinosaurs using robot. In their finding they noted that multiple body simulations by use of approaches such as evolutionary robots seem to give steadfast estimates of the highest speeds attained by dinosaurs (Strickberger 87). For instance, multibody simulations, with minor variations in patterns of muscle activation as well as starting conditions resulted to constant estimates. The ultimate running speed in animals is very technical and poses a lot of challenges in estimating this parameter. This is because as far one might try to estimate using an animal on pace, the animal might not run as fast as it could run. Furthermore most of the estimated values of the running speed of animals are given with regard to the observation findings which were conducted under compromising situations. The ultimate speed of running among dinosaurs differs from one species to another. Whereas the situation may deem to be straight forward in humans in that the two hundred meter sprint may be above or below 0.1 of a second the maximum speed attained can exceed the normal speed by 12m/s. The situation in humans is apt for well known athletes with well b uilt muscles as opposed to the estimations (Paul 67). The above estimates concur with the biochemical techniques which estimate eighteen meters per second among ostriches and thirteen meters per second for emu. The differences in the mass of muscles affects the maximum speed and these changes have a great influence on the average speed of the dinosaurs. Another method of measuring the highest speed attained by the dinosaurs is by estimation the loading capacity of the bones and the value compared to the speed of the animals whose speed is known. Conclusion All in all, dinosaurs were ancient reptiles that existed during the reptile’s period. These creatures dominated the planet hundreds and hundreds of years ago and faded way as time went by and until now we can only see the fossils. Dinosaurs were terrestrial reptiles whose locomotion was on an erect posture. The most unique thing about the dinosaurs was the structure of their distinct hips that caused their hind limbs to pro trude beneath their bodies and not spread out from the sides (Martin 56). When these animals evolved from ancient archosaurs, they were pedaling on twos but evolved to quadric-pedals. The evolution of muscles and the hip structure an adaptation that has enhanced its locomotion and other characteristics. Dinosaurs have been purported to have been the ancient reptiles that ran at a lightning speed (Lockley 78). However, there lacks a clear evidence to ascertain this claim. Some of scientists have tried to estimate the maximum running speed of these animals using conventional robotic instrument with no success. Dinosaurs have evolved from time and time and from the distinct creatures birds, crocodiles have emerged. In evaluating the speed and power is the mass of the muscles of the limb (Martin 67). Despite the fact that the exact mass of the muscles of limb cannot be determined due to the absence of the muscles on the fossils, their comparative size amid various groups can be produced . Scientist has tried estimating the maximum speed of dinosaurs. Approximating the speeds of dinosaurs differ from one method of estimation to another. For instance, some scientists have argued that young children might out do their counterpart in running. The various methods of evaluating the ultimate speed that can be achieved by dinosaurs are the same techniques which can be put to task in evaluating the speed of the animals in today’s world. For instance, the dinosaurs walking speed range between four to six kilometers per hour to six kilometers the ultimate running speed has been purported to range between thirty seven to eighty seven kilometers per hour. The ultimate speed which has been said to be the maximum speed of the dinosaurs is the current speed of the fastest terrestrial Animals. This speed differs from one species to another and it is also dependant on the approach used. Each approach used has its own confounding factors that yield different results. Works Cit ed Lockley, Martin. Tracking Dinosaurs: a New Look at an Ancient World. Denver: CUP achive, 1991.Print Martin, Anthony. Introduction to the Study of Dinosaurs. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006. Print Paul, Gregory. The Field Guides. New York: Princeton University Press, 2010.Print Strickberger, Monroe. Evolution. New York: Jones Bartlett Learning, 2005.Print This term paper on Running Speed in Dinosaurs was written and submitted by user Ashtyn R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.